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In relation to the centenary of both countries, the Estonian and Finnish governments held a jubilee session, discussing transnational cooperation both in the establishment of physical and digital connections as well as in the field of culture and education.

As the first topic of the jubilee session, the governments discussed the establishment of physical connections between the countries. They discussed creating a transport corridor extending from the border of the Arctic Sea to Central Europe. As a part of this project, Estonia and Finland share the goal of establishing Rail Baltic by 2026. The governments acknowledged that in addition to Rail Baltic, the Tallinn-Helsinki tunnel influences the trends of the 21st century in the region. It would not only be a part of the transport infrastructure – it would join the capitals of both countries and turn them into an international innovation centre, where close to two million people would live.

The development of the energy market was also discussed. Estonia and Finland want to work with Latvia and Lithuania to open the Eastern Baltic Sea gas distribution centre, which would be closely linked to the rest of the European Union’s internal energy market. By 2020, the countries wish to build a gas tunnel called Balticconnector, which would connect the Baltic and Finnish gas systems.

Another topic at the joint session was cooperation in the digital field, where one of the main issues is cross-border data exchange projects. Currently, digital data is exchanged via the X-road, but the exchange of data between the countries could be broader and include, for example, population and business registers, social security data, and digital receipts. It was also declared that the Estonian and Finnish governments would start exchanging data for free.

To strengthen the economic ties between the countries, the governments wish to develop a real-time economic environment, where cross-border economic transactions are reflected digitally. According to the calculations of the Deutsche Bank, a real-time economic environment would help save around 260 million euros annually in Europe. Estonia believes that our countries could be the pioneers in this area.

Cross-border cooperation is also sought in genomic research, which is made possible by genome centres established in both countries. Cooperation in this field will allow Estonia and Finland contribute to the initiative of the European Union for one million sequenced genomes, which, in turn, helps to promote personal medicine of the 21st century.

In this post, let’s hold Samuel’s assertion up to the light, and find out what happens when ‘Environments’ speak with ‘Human behavior.’

Before we get to that, I’d like to propose a brief tour, a visit to an afternoon at work.

As though they’re mindful of our demanding schedules, most afternoons slip from the calendars, unnoticed. This particular August afternoon, though, denied that compulsion.

Its base ingredient was pleasantness.

Sunlight, distilled, first by the clouds and then by the accidentally stained window glass, brought with it, a kind of day when one expects to do a lot. A pretty day.

But a teammate’s forehead staged a different story.

He was anxious. Concerned about a tool that had failed him repeatedly. In this case, just for a few seconds, it had stopped him from sharing something he had worked on, over the weekend.

It was the browser.

It had surrendered to its own doing. Too many tabs. The ensuing crash stripped the air of its capabilities, and triggered a lament from the said teammate, who himself, is involved in the making of such tools.

“I can’t help it. This always gets out of control. I don’t know. Maybe, it shouldn’t let me!”

Routine reigned. The browser was up again. The teammate’s mood took some mending. He did share the progress on his work. It was fine, a parcel from a Sunday spent reflecting.

Every workday contains its fine share of similar rough encounters.

One way to think about them, is to say that it’s never about the tools. And it’s always about the people.

Because: first, we get to control what a tool does, and second, if a tool fails, it’s up to us to not perceive the event as the end of the world.

Another way to assess these encounters is to acknowledge that these interactions with tools, with their form and their function, the typography and the colors, the error messages and the progress bars, leave an imprint – however inconsequential it might seem – on how we think.

At best, a rough start to a presentation, or a day, or a week; at worst, something more paralyzing, something that author and design impresario, Don Norman, calls
taught helplessness
.

Put forth in the same pedigree of trouble as a known psychological phenomenon called
learned helplessness
, which stems from one’s repeated failure at a given task, making one believe “that the task cannot be done, at least not by them,” and that “they are helpless.”

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